The goblins of Clovenstone Keep are a bloodthirsty lot. They love fighting, looting and eating. And more fighting.
But Skarper is different. He is clever and cunning. Only he understands that the old magic trapped beneath Clovenstone is rising again. He's about to be flung headfirst into the wildest adventure in all of goblin history...
Review
This is my first step into the mind of Philip Reeve and after this experience with Goblins it certainly won't be the last. I've already bought the first two books in the Mortal Engines series and shoved them high on the To Be Read pile. Goblins was just that good and just that funny that I didn't see the point in wasting time waiting on Christmas to roll around and get a copy of the books from someone else.
Goblins is the most delicious book I've had the joy to read in a while. A bit nutty and a whole heap of funny; the world of Goblins is one that I couldn't help but love because it reminded me of The Princess Bride and the humour of Monty Python but told from the point of view of a curious goblin named Skarper. This book turns fantasy fairy tales on their heads and has a very British sense of humour about them that makes you imagine Cloverstone is just some lost legend of the English countryside you'd never heard of. Skarper is very different from the other Goblins in the castle because he has a brain, reads and questions rather then just smashing and hoarding jewels. He gets thrown into an adventure (quite literally) with a "softling" human named Henwyn, a princess named Ned, cloud maidens, trolls and a thoughtful giant.
The whole book keeps running off on little tales and tangents that all come together in the end even if you have no clue how they will because some are seriously barmy. I can't understand how Philip does this and makes it seem so seamless. He must be a scary genius of some sort......or a wizard. It's remarkable!
Goblins is a laugh a minute tale about finding out your own destiny and place in the world even if it's where you'd thought it would be. Skarper learns that differences don't make you different but just unique and this can be someone's best asset in life; that and access to a pile of abandoned books and maps now used as toilet paper. It's these kinds of throw away jokes that Philip Reeve employs that tickled every bone in my body and I guarantee you'll be answer questions with the word "Anchovies!" for some time afterwards.
I want a cuddly toy Skarper for Christmas. Hope my mum reads this and tells Santa for me.
The whole book keeps running off on little tales and tangents that all come together in the end even if you have no clue how they will because some are seriously barmy. I can't understand how Philip does this and makes it seem so seamless. He must be a scary genius of some sort......or a wizard. It's remarkable!
Goblins is a laugh a minute tale about finding out your own destiny and place in the world even if it's where you'd thought it would be. Skarper learns that differences don't make you different but just unique and this can be someone's best asset in life; that and access to a pile of abandoned books and maps now used as toilet paper. It's these kinds of throw away jokes that Philip Reeve employs that tickled every bone in my body and I guarantee you'll be answer questions with the word "Anchovies!" for some time afterwards.
I want a cuddly toy Skarper for Christmas. Hope my mum reads this and tells Santa for me.
Published by Scholastic UK and is available here and all book shops now
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